Ties that Bind
by Sarah Victoria Cullen
Summary: The story or the first few chapters are being rewritten, so I apologize if it doesn't make too much sense after a point! Rick's little sister, Nicole, goes along with him to Hamunaptra. But this girl is not as normal as she appears to be. Rating to be safe.
1. Ties that Bind

**Hello all! Don't worry I am going to be updating this story in just a few minutes, but I wanted to go back and upgrade it a bit. Ya know, edit. Yep that's what I'm doing. I'm redoing the first few chapters and placing them in Nikki's POV because let's face it, I'm a lot better at that than trying to get it through everyone's Point of view. Now if none of you like this idea, I'm sorry, but I'm going to do it anyway. Why? Because it needs to be done in my opinion. Each redone chapter will have some added material and as I've said in the disclaimer this is all for entertainment purposes—I'm not making a damn dime from this story. Right let us get on with it!**

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_I'm not too sure why I never quit this job, but then it hits me: I need the money. Great, that's just how the world goes round anymore. Kind of pathetic if you ask me. Of course, it was my decision to work as a bartender here in lovely Cairo. Don't get me wrong, I love the city, it's absolutely beautiful…I just wish the drunks would kindly leave me alone. I've got enough on my plate without having to deal with a bunch of drunken idiots trying to get into my pants all the time. And it's not only drunks, but weirdoes as well that try getting into my apartment at all hours of the day. Usually, I go about drop kicking their butts whenever they bother me. It's a great way to work off frustration. Plus it helps keep me in great physical shape as well. Two bonus's for kicking some ass!_

_On this day, I had just managed to get off at a reasonable time. It was still light out so I didn't have to worry too much about being bothered and made it home. I decided to shower first before changing into a pair of denim jeans, a white tank top (that I fashioned myself!) and a black T-shirt. Now I realize that in this day and age that most women don't dress this way, well I don't care. I'm not exactly a Lady. I'm not trash, but I certainly am no damn high borne Lady either. I do things my own way and if no one likes it well the door is to the left!_

_Ten minutes later I was in the kitchen getting myself some much needed water (who knew that taking a shower would make one thirsty!) when there was a knock at the door. I really freakin' hope that none of those rowdy customers followed me home because that is the last thing I need at this particular moment in time. Over sexed males never seem to take 'no' for an answer…which leads me to using fists one and two to change their minds repeatedly. I made sure that one of my guns was one me before making my way towards the door. Opening it slowly, I nearly fell over at the sight of seeing my only older brother standing on the other side._

_I gasped. "Rick!?"_

_He grinned weakly at me. "Are you gonna let me in or just stand there staring at me?"_

"_Oh," I laughed, letting the big ox inside._

_I noticed how filthy my brother was when he fell into an exhausted heap onto the couch. He looked as if he just ran through mountains of sand and dirt. I then noticed how badly he was trying to catch his breath. Damn fool must've been parched because when I left to get him some water, he had drunk mine! Yeah, when he gets to feeling better I am definitely going to have to knock him upside the head with a book._

"_Sorry," He panted. "I needed that."_

_I gave him the other glass. "You all right, Rick?" I asked. "Ya look like you've been running in the desert…"_

"_I was," Rick answered, not looking at me._

"_Ya wanna run that by me again?"_

"_I was running in the desert…coming back form that trip I told you I was going on," He explained._

_I sighed. "Bro, you don't have to lie about joining the French Foreign Legion. I already know about it."_

_He winced. "Sorry, I just didn't want to have my little sister taking responsibility for me anymore. You shouldn't have to do that. Should be the other way around."_

_I smiled. "Yeah, that's true. But I don't mind taking care of you. At least I know if you've gotten into trouble."_

"_Thanks a lot."_

"_No problem."_

YES PROBLEM! I wanted to scream that three years later as I stood in front of my brother's jail cell here in Cairo prison, whilst remembering when he had come back home looking almost half dead—at least to me. Honestly, what the hell had the idiot gone and done _this_ time around. I'm pretty sure I don't have the money to bail him out of jail again. Getting out of that bartending job had been a little tough as they didn't want to let me go as I gave them most of their beloved customers. Too bad! So yeah, I seemed to be a little strapped on money…and if I find out that's why Rick is in jail I may just kill him to end the problem!

"Rick," I growled. "How do you always get into these messes?"

Rick grinned. "Do really wanna know?" he questioned, voice dripping with sarcasm before he groaned in pain as one of the guards hit him in the back of the head. I glared darkly at the guard before cursing him in both Egyptian and then again in Arabic. Screw killing my brother, I'll just maim the hell out of the guards!

"Gone to using those curses again, sister," he said sarcastically.

"Damn right I have," I muttered, before going to ask the guards where the warden was, when I noticed that my brother's attention was suddenly behind me. Taking a look back I saw the warden who was leading a man and woman over to Rick's cell. Right…I'm not too sure what to make of this interesting little development, but then again, I'm pretty sure my brother doesn't either.

"This man's in prison!" the woman exclaimed in an English accent.

"_No kidding,_" I muttered in Arabic.

"Who are you?" I heard Rick ask. "And who's the broad?"

I saw the sarcastic smile spread across my bothers face when he asked those questions and promptly wanted to smack the crap out of him. For crying out loud! Can't he be at least a little civil?

"Rick," I snarled. "If you don't behave yourself I'll…" I paused, unable to think of a good threat to give.

"Broad?!" the woman asked indignantly.

"I-I'm just a local sort of missionary chap, spreading the good word," the man said in the same accent as the woman.

_Yeah, and I'm every child's fairy godmother,_ I thought, fighting the overwhelming urge to roll my eyes, whilst flicking back some brown hair back over my shoulders.

"But this is my sister, Evy," he finished with a nervous look on his face.

"How do you do?" Evy said.

I noticed how defensive this young woman seemed. Hm…I'll have to look into this later.

"Oh, well. I guess she's not a total loss," Rick muttered.

"Rick!" I snapped.

"I beg your pardon?!" Evy snapped. Hm…I like her.

"Oh, don't mind him," I said. "He's always like this…" My sentence was cut short as the warden began yelling at some of the other guards.

"I'll be back in a moment," the warden said, walking away.

_How about in three years?_ I thought darkly.

"Ask him about the box," the Englishman said to his sister.

"Um…" Evy began, catching both mine and Rick's attention. "We found your puzzle box and we've come to ask you about it."

He looked at them a moment. "No."

"No?" Evy questioned.

"No," Rick sighed. "You've come to ask me about Hamunaptra."

"How do you know the box pertains to Hamunaptra?" she asked, barely able to contain her excitement. I was actually a little curious about this whole this as well. Oh, wait, now I remember…Rick told me about that whole ordeal three years ago as well. Lovely.

"Because that's where I was when I found it," Rick began sarcastically. "I was there."

"But how do we know that's not a load of pig's wallow?" Evy's brother asked.

I decided to speak up. "Rick wouldn't lie about something like that. I at least…I don't think he would…"I trailed off before noticing the look that my brother gave me. "Nope, he's not lying." I didn't realize that Rick was face to face with Evy's brother…until Rick punched the guy in the face and got hit back by a guard.

_Nice going Rick_, I thought.

I watched Evy step over her brother and ask mine. "You were actually at Hamunaptra?"

"Yeah, yeah I was there," he answered with a big grin. I could almost see where this was going and the excitement that emanated off of Evy almost choked me.

Evy narrowed her eyes. "You swear?"

"Every damn day," Rick replied. I choked back on a laugh. I was going to say that.

"No, I didn't mean that—"

"I know. I was there," he answered. "Seti's place. City of the Dead."

"C-Could you tell me how to get there?" Evy stammered.

Rick and I looked at her like she grew another head. Why on Earth would she wanna go there?! I looked up as I heard the warden shouting again. I really wanted to put a bullet in that man's skull.

"I mean, the exact location," she said, using her hat to shield the conversation.

"You want to know?" he asked.

"Well yes," Evy responded leaning towards him. This wasn't going to end well, but I'm not stopping it either. The entertainment will be worth it!

"Do you really want to know?" Rick asked again. Damn man would just get on with it!

"Yes," Evy said, leaning down further as Rick motioned her to do with his finger. I almost started laughing when Rick grabbed Evy's chin and kissed her. Ho-oh! That was purely comical…until the guards hit him and began to drag him away. This really got my attention. What the hell was happening with my brother?!

"Where are they taking him?" I demanded.

"To be hanged," the warden answered.

Say what?! "Hanged!" I hollered.

"Yes," he said. "Apparently, he had a VERY good time."

I'd like to know what the hell that statement was supposed to mean, but I didn't really bother asking. I had something a lot more important to do. Like saving my damn brother from looking like a tree ornament! And not a flattering one either.

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**There's the new and improved chapter! I do hope you all enjoyed the added material (not much, but some) and Nikki's ever loving wit and humor. There's more to come in the next chapter I can assure you all of that.**


	2. Saving Rick, going on the boat

**Edit of chapter two coming right up!**

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I felt myself wanting to beat the hell out of the warden who seemed to take great pleasure out of the idea of hanging my own flesh and blood. Actually, I'm sure that killing him would be the better option. The beating wouldn't really do much but piss me off all the more or get the guy off. Yeah, not my idea of a good time.

"You can't hang him!" I declared.

"I'm sorry," he said, "but I've waited a long time to see this dog hang. Now if you'll excuse me."

_Did he just call my brother a dog? Right…maim the asshole after saving my brother's life! Make a mental note!_ I thought all of that whilst Jonathan, Evy and I followed the warden to the gallows. A rather nice place I must say. Yes, I'm being overly sarcastic…shoot me! Well, don't. I've got things to do right now. I felt myself wanting to scream as I heard the other prisoners shouting in what seemed to be outrage. Hell, I'm with them!

My eyes wandered as I tried to think of some way to save my brother as Evy bartered for my brother's life. I don't mind that at all, but I should've really paid attention. Of course when Evy shouted 'NO!' my eyes went right to the gallows to see my brother hanging there, but he was alive. His neck didn't break. I didn't bother hanging around as I needed to get to my brother quickly before he got strangled by that damn rope! I pushed my way down the stairs not bothering to listen as Evy spoke once more to the warden. It didn't mean a thing to me if she told him anything that my brother knew about the Dead City. I didn't care. The only thing I cared about at this moment in time was my brother's life and safely. And if I'm in a good enough mood I won't kill anyone should I get to him in time.

I stood there a moment after he was cut down before running over and throwing my arms around his neck. I thought I was going to lose him…I couldn't really bear that particular thought.

"Took her long enough," he choked out, groaning a little. I couldn't stop myself from laughing this time. I turned to Evy and gave a small bow.

"Thank you Evy."

She smiled back at me. Yes, my brother may have possibly ticked her off a little, but I could easily see that she was pleased to have saved him. After all, he was her only ticket to getting to Hamunaptra. Of course, I was going to be going with them as well. To make sure that my dear Ol' brother didn't get into anymore trouble; plus I didn't feel like being left behind again. Nope, sorry. Not gonna happen this time.

A little while later Rick and I were back at my apartment. I busied myself with packing whilst Rick cleaned himself up. I made sure to cut his hair before allowing him to set a foot into the shower. No way was my brother going to go around looking like a shaggy dog. Of course I stood there looking over my weapons trying to decide if I should take them with me. I wasn't exactly sure if they were going to be needed on this trip…which just showed how damn naive I could wind up being sometimes—much to my constant annoyance.

"You think I should take my weapons, Rick?"

Said brother came out of the bathroom, giving me a weird look.

I grinned. "I was just asking."

Rick shook his head. "Take them, Nikki," he said, getting this things together. "I didn't teach you how to use them just for them to be left here. Besides…we don't know what we'll find once we get there." True, so yeah, I packed them in a separate duffle bag.

"Ready to go?"

Smiling, I nodded and followed Rick out the door. We decided to take the long way to the docks, mainly to see how our patient our new traveling companions would be and also to catch up. I hadn't seen my brother in the longest time and I wanted to be able to at least have a decent conversation with him before something happened and we wound up in a small feud. Of course, those are almost always a blast.

"So, exactly what the hell did you do to wind up going to prison and almost hanged?" I inquired as we walked down the street, carrying my bags over one shoulder. Yeah, I shouldn't have that kind of strength, but leave it to my bro to make sure that I wasn't a weakling.

Rick grinned. "Nothing you need to worry about."

Yeah, now I am worried. "Nice try."

"Like the warden said, I was just looking for a good time."

"Exactly how long were with that woman before you realized she was married?" I asked heavy sarcasm laced within the words, though it was dry.

Rick chuckled a little. "About an hour."

"Before or after the husband came home?"

"After."

Well no wonder he wound up in prison. "Did you hit the guy?"

"Yes, after he tried to shoot me." Now there's some new information. Uh, on second thought, nope, not really. This sounds about the norm to me.

"And let me guess, he accused you of trying to rape his wife?" Wouldn't surprise me if I turned out to be right.

"Yep." Funny on how we were talking about this like we were discussing the damn weather. Rather interesting if you ask me. So glad that you did too.

I rolled my eyes. "Dandy…some people have no common sense."

"Well, personally I think he's filthy, rude, a complete scoundrel. I don't like him one bit," we over heard Evy say when we managed to get to the docks. I had to grin because this young woman was about to have her foot put in her mouth.

"Anyone I know?" Rick asked coming up behind her after tossing a wink in my direction. He startled the both of them pretty badly.

"I think she was talking about you, brother dear," I said, realizing a second later that I was being ignored. Evy was staring at my brother like she had just met him. It was difficult to hold back the laugh that wanted so badly to escape.

"Smashing day for the start of an adventure, eh, O'Connell?" Jonathan asked patting Rick's shoulder and then shaking his hand.

"Yeah, Yeah, smashing," Rick replied, checking to make sure he still had his wallet. Yeah, I'd be making sure it was still there too.

"Oh, no, no, I'd never steal from a partner…partner," Jon chuckled nervously. I'd be nervous too if I had stolen something from someone as strong as my brother.

I shot a dark look at Jon. "But you'd steal from someone who could easily knock you into the next century," I hissed.

Jon ignored me as Rick apologized from punching him earlier.

"Oh, no, happens all the time."

_I just bet it does,_ I thought, picturing myself punching the guy through several walls.

"Mr. O'Connell," Evy called, finally finding her voice. "Can you look me in the eye and guarantee me that this isn't some kind of a flimflam? Because if it is, I am warning you—"

"You're warning me?" My brother responded as if mocking the woman. "Lady, let me put it this way: My whole damn garrison believed in this so much…that without orders, they marched half way across Libya and into Egypt to find that city. And when we got there, all we found was sand and blood," he finished. "Let me get your bags."

I smiled faintly. _Well, that's a sure fire way of finding out what had happened three years ago. If I knew that threatening him was what it would take I would've done it a lot sooner. Oh well…too late now._

"Yes, yes, you're right," Jon smirked. "Filthy, rude, a complete scoundrel. Nothing to like there at all."

Really? I found my brother quite likeable…but then again, I am just his little sister. Of course, I didn't say this opting to bowing again to Evy. "I must apologize for my brother's apparent lack of manners, though I am glad that you said what you did."

"Why's that?" she asked confused.

"Rick never really told me what happened when he came back from there three years ago," I informed them.

"Bright good morning to all," the warden said coming into our view. Just when in the hell did this guy get here?

"Oh, no," Evy groaned.

"Why the hell are you here?" I snarled.

"I am here to protect my investment, thank you very much," he answered climbing the ramp to board the boat. I wanted to throw him off the damn thing…this was not going to be fun with this idiot travelling with us now. Rick really isn't going to happy. Nope not at all.

"Well," Jon sighed. "This should be fun."

I glanced at him. "Yeah…like being hit by a train."

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**There ya go! I'm going to get to work on the next chapter. I'm not too sure just how many I'll have to redo…I'm hoping it's not many more as I need to update this story. Or else…someone will wind up hitting me with a cast-iron skillet.**


	3. Terror on the Nile Pt 1

The cabin that I wound up sharing with Evy was a little boring to say the least. Evy had gone somewhere almost as soon as we had unpacked our bags. I didn't really mind it all that much, but still I wasn't too sure if I could have dealt with the company. After all, I'm not really used to talking to people I don't know all that well. Mainly because I'm sort of a loner. Sure I love being in crowds, but at the exact same time…I'd rather be alone. However, being alone and bored are two things that just irritate me more than having someone asking me questions. Right about now I'd kill for some form of entertainment. Ah, right…big brother ought to have something for me to do. Leaving the cabin, I noticed just how dangerous, yet beautiful the river looked at night. It was something that I hadn't really paid attention to until now. Yeah, I may have to kick myself later on for that as well.

I smiled as I found my brother emerging from his only to halt in my tracks as I found Jonathan playing poker with three other men at a table directly in front of Rick's sleeping quarters. I found this to be a little irritating…couldn't they just play somewhere else? Sheesh. Then again, if they need an extra player I might like to hop in. Rick did teach me how to play and I happen to be rather good at cards. So far, I hadn't lost a game.

"O'Connell, sit down. We could use another player," Jonathan said, looking at his cards.

"I only gamble with my life, never my money," Rick replied. I could agree with that. The rewards of gambling with your life are far greater than that with money. Plus, it helps make sure we can eat if you don't gamble the money away recklessly.

"And the world heaves a collective sigh of relief," I said, startling everyone there. Apparently, my presence had gone ignored. Oh well, I consider that a fresh change. Don't need a bunch of males trying to impress me.

"Never?" The man identified as Daniels asked. "What if I was to bet you five hundred dollars we get to Hamunaptra before you?"

Rick and I shared a look. Something about this whole thing just didn't set right with either one of us. "You're looking for Hamunaptra?" Rick asked suspicion clear in his voice.

"Damn straight we are," another cowboy, Henderson said, grinning.

I raised a brow. "And who the hell says we're looking for it?" I asked, crossing my arms.

"He does," all three men said, pointing to Jonathan. And now my annoyance has reached an all time high. You'd think Jon would be able to keep his big mouth shut! But no…obviously I was wrong about this guy being smart and right about how barely anyone carried any common sense anymore.

Jon gave a nervous chuckle. "Well—"

"You ain't gonna be able to save it, Jon," I hissed. "So don't even try."

"Well, how 'bout it?" Daniels asked. "Is it a bet?"

Rick looked at me a moment. "All right, you're on."

"And what makes you so confident, sir?" asked the Egyptologist that had been reading whilst the conversation had gone on. I didn't like this guy one bit.

My eyes narrowed. "What makes you? Last time I checked, no one here was carrying a map to the joint?"

"We got us a man who's actually been there," Henderson said, smiling at me.

I snorted. "Well, good for you. Ask me if I care?" I swear I heard Rick chuckle. He always did like it when I got ticked off. "Doesn't make any difference if you have someone who has been there or not. What makes the difference is if the fool can remember where the place is located." I turned on my heel and swiftly left the area.

"What's up with her?" I heard the one called Burns ask.

"You're all a bunch of idiots!" I hollered back, turning a corner and leaned against a wall waiting for Rick to catch up. He knew that I was ticked off to the point of where I'd throw someone over board, so he didn't say anything when I had left. Smart boy. I stood there steaming for a bit before I saw my brother's shadow suddenly next to me.

"You okay?" he sounded a bit worried. Oh, dear.

I sighed. "Yeah…I had forgotten that most Americans can be quite…irritating."

"We're American too, ya know."

I snorted. "Sometimes I'm more than aware of that where you're concerned, Rick."

"Hey!"

I moved away from the wall to find Evy. "Whatever."

Didn't take too long find her as Rick threw his bag on the table where she sat, making the poor woman jump about ten feet into the air. Wouldn't bother me if she smacked him for that one. I know I would have.

"Sorry," he said, not sounding the least bit sorry. "Didn't mean to scare ya."

"The only thing that scares me, Mr. O'Connell are you manners," Evy said snidely.

"Or lack of them," I muttered.

Rick sighed. "Still angry about that kiss, huh?"

"I would be," I said walking past him, promptly ignoring his glare at my back. I needed to find something to do other than tangle around the words with the lovebirds. Oh, boy, Rick would be irked if he knew I thought of them as that.

"Well if you call _that_ a kiss," Evy said. Oh, I laughed at the sarcasm, which earned another glare from my brother as he threw open his duffle bag, revealing his arsenal of weapons. Speaking of which, I needed to check up on my own to make sure that they were well prepared in case of an emergency.

"Well, if you all don't mind," I began, "I'm going to get some shut eye."

I changed into some sleep wear before double checking my weapons to find them all fully loaded and ready. I slipped one under a pillow that way I'd have access to at least one in case something should happen. Of course, it wasn't too long after that that Evy came into the room, muttering something negative about my brother. Obviously, those two got off to a smashing start. Maybe when we dock I could just throw Rick overboard and blame it on the crowd? Hm…maybe not.

"I take it you two had a nice chat?" I inquired with a yawn.

Evy snorted. "I guess you could say that. How you put up with him I'll never know."

"He is my brother after all."

"Yes," she said. "I still can't quite believe that the two of you are related to each other. You really don't look anything alike…accept maybe your hair color."

I shrugged. "Yeah, well…sometimes I'd like to think we're not related. That way I can beat the crap out of him sometimes." I had done that too at some point in the past back when we were children. Course, Rick never let me do that again when we got older…unless of course he deserved it, which turned out to be most of the time. Yeah, I got a lot of practice in when it came to my punches and fighting skills.

Evy smiled gently. "You really love your brother, don't you?"

"Eh?!" Say what?! Now that's a loaded question. Of course I love my brother. HELLO! "Well, duh," I said, before an evil grin broke out on my face. "You seem to as well."

Now it was Evy's turn to look uncomfortable. Yes, I am the master!

"I don't know what you're talking about," she said, taking out a book and muttering out loud about the contents.

I chuckled. "Yeah, sure you don't."

I stifled the rest of the laughter, laying down and closing my eyes to sleep, only to reach under the pillow for the gun when I heard the book fall to the floor and Evy's frightened gasp.

"Where is the map?" I heard a voice say.

Sitting up quickly, I aimed directly at the intruder. "_Let her go!_" I demanded in Arabic. Yep, I took some time to make sure I could speak the language a long time ago.

"Where is the key?" he asked in English. I swear I almost had what I consider to be my what the hell face before keeping the hard glare centered on our unwelcomed visitor.

"What key?" Evy and I both asked at the same time.

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**Right, that about does it for this lovely little rewrite of chapter three.**


	4. Terror on the Nile Pt 2

"Evelyn! Nikki!" I heard Rick call as he kicked open the door, aiming his guns at the man who held Evy captive with a hook for a hand. I'd really like to know how this guy wound up with a hook for a hand, but then again, now is not the time to ponder such questions.

I kept my gun aimed as well, watching as a flame of a candle suddenly flickered as a window flew open and a man began shooting at Rick.

"Rick!" I cried out.

He fired his gun and the man fell back with a pain filled scream. He kept firing his gun through, making a lantern fall and catch the couch on fire. Of course this gave Evy a chance to pick up said candle and jam it into hook man's eye. Hell, I almost congratulated her for causing this guy some kind of pain. But I didn't have time to think of that as I grabbed hold of my duffle bag of weapons and followed Rick out the door with Evy using me and my brother as her own human shields. Not that I minded as I'm sure she has never fired a gun in her whole life.

"The map! The map! I forgot the map!" Evy gasped, turning to run back to the room as Rick and I reloaded our guns.

Rick grabbed her arm though. "Relax. I'm the map. It's all up here," he said, pointing towards his head.

"Oh, that's comforting," Evy said sarcastically. Girl's got spunk I can tell you that much. Gotta love the girl. Hell, I'm already beginning to think of her as a sister. Rick will be thrilled when he hears about that.

"Isn't it though?" I replied back with dry sarcasm, running out of the hall and firing at all the black robed men in my path. _Just where the hell are they all coming from?!_

The second I saw Rick and Evy emerge safely from the same hallway, I headed to the other side of the boat, shooting at the men that were throwing torches and otherwise trying to kill me. Yay! This is almost completely new to me. But at least it's a fantastic way of getting rid of some much built up frustration.

"_**Should I? Oh, what the hell,**_**" **I spoke in Egyptian as more men appeared. I shot one right in the face, almost doing a sinister cackle as I did so. Obviously, I'm losing my mind and this trip has barely even begun! Something else to be pleased about. NOTE THE SARCASM FOLKS!

I looked over at one point to see Rick at the railing of the boat and ran back over to him and Evy, firing away like a mad woman. I needed to take out as many of these nightly visitors as possible. Why? Well to keep my little group of people safe is one reason…and reason enough that I don't have to give another one.

"Can you swim?" Rick asked Evy.

"Well of course I can swim, if the occasion calls for it," Evy shouted.

"Trust me," he said picking her up. "It calls for it," he finished, tossing her over the side.

I just stared at him like an idiot. "I can't believe you did that."

"You're next Nikki," he said, waiting for me to comply. I really wanted to argue, but there wasn't much point as the boat was burning! So I just nodded, making a mental note to hit him later and jumped over the side into the cold Nile waters below. I'm hoping there's nothing in these waters or else…

Coming up for some much needed air, I saw another one of those black robed thugs tackle my brother to the ground and start using him as a personal punching bag. Excuse me, but that's _my_ punching bag they are using!

"Rick!" I hollered out, then sighed in relief when he used that guy as his own punching bag.

"Will you get moving!" He hollered when he noticed that I hadn't moved to shore. I felt my left eye twitch in irritation. I did consider doing the sisterly deed and listen, but to hell with it! I'm not moving until that idiot gets off that damn boat! So yeah, I began to swim back to it.

"O'Connell! O'Connell," I heard the warden yell. "What are we going to do? What are we going to do?"

"Wait here," my brother replied. "I'll go get help."

"Right."

I was dying of laughter when Rick threw himself over the side and came up next to me. He just stared at me for a second.

"What?" he snapped.

"'Wait here. I'll go get help,'" I repeated, gasping whilst laughing.

Rick rolled his eyes. "Now is not the time!"

"Right, right," I said as the warden gave a yell and dove off the boat. I started to swim to shore with my brother.

I pretty much kissed sand when we got there before looking myself over to make sure that I didn't have any injuries with my brother doing the same thing.

"We've lost everything!" Evy whined. "All our tools, all the equipment! All my clothes!"

I coughed out a, "Ditto."

"O'Connell! Hey O'Connell!"

We all turned our attention across the river to see Beni yelling back at us. I really wanted to use him for target practice right about now. I am in no mood!

"It looks to me like I've got all the horses!" he called, looking ridiculously pleased.

"Hey, Beni!" Rick called back. "It looks to me like you're on the wrong side of the river!"

I rolled my eyes. They both sounded like a couple of children. I may wind up knocking their heads together. Looking over at Evy, I shrugged out of the jacket that I forgot I had put on and handed it to her.

"What's this for?"

A stupid question, but I let it slide. "You're cold Evy," I answered. "I can see you shaking."

"Thank you," she said, shivering as she put the jacket on.

I nodded. "Now, all we have to do is get some transportation to Hamunaptra," I said, standing. "Any idea's big brother?"

He gave a nod. "Yeah. There's a village not too far from here. We can get some supplies there."

"And Evy and me some new clothes," I added on.

Rick grinned. "You're really gonna put me broke, ya know that."

I shrugged. "Pay back's a bitch, bro." And it is too.

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**Well, that's done! Now let's see about chapter five! Oh yeah, about two or three more chapters to rewrite and I should be ready to update it with a new chapter.**


	5. Desert hawks, Race to the city

**Disclaimer:**** I hate doing these things, they are soooooooooo depressing. But, I guess it's all part of the game. So, here goes. I don't own the mummy. You all should know by now what's mine and what is not.**

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**Chapter Five:**

"I only want five! Five!" Jonathan shouted at a camel trader. "Not a whole bloody herd! Ohh! O'Connell!" he whined. "Can you believe the cheek?"

Nikki rolled her eyes as she fixed the red tank top and black pants that she bought, she didn't bother waiting for Evy, who was still getting spruced up. It was obvious that Jonathan was beginning to get on her nerves with all that whining he was doing. "Will you just pay the, man?" she growled at Jon.

Rick nodded in agreement.

"OH, for heaven's sake!" Jonathan exclaimed, digging into his wallet for the money. "Can't believe the price of these flea bags!"

Rolling her emerald eyes, Nikki took the halter for her camel and began to move away from her brother and Jonathan. She swore that if the Englishman acted like that on the whole damn trip, she'd either put a bullet in her head or his. Nikki was leaning more towards putting one in Jon's cranium.

"You probably could've got'em for free," Rick started, taking the halters for two of the camels. "All you had to do was give him your sister."

"Rick," Nikki growled. "That's the most…idiotic thing that I'd ever heard you say in my whole damn life!!!"

Rick shrugged. "It's the truth."

_Fuck the truth!_ Nikki's mind hollered.

"Yes," Jonathan chuckled. "Awfully tempting, wasn't it?"

Nikki was about to beat the crap out of both men, when Evy suddenly made her appearance. Looking incredibly stunning in the black dress that she was wearing. Taking a glance back to Rick, the young O'Connell nearly fell over in fits of laughter at the way she caught Rick looking at Evy.

"Awfully," he said weakly.

Walking towards Rick, Nikki lightly shoved him in Evy's direction before hopping onto her camel, ignoring the dangerous look that her dear big brother was giving her. Nikki never did pay any mind to those looks. Her brother was never very intimidating to her and probably never would be.

She missed Rick helping Evy up onto the back of her camel and that was a very good thing. She'd probably hassle Rick about that. Actually, she would. Just for the hell of it.

Riding out of the town, Nikki got this strange feeling her stomach that maybe she should try stopping them from continuing onward. But that didn't make any sense to her. Shaking it off, she hurried to catch up and ride next to her brother.

"I never did like camels," Jonathan muttered. "Filthy buggers. They smell, they bite, they spit."

The warden spat the second Jonathan said that.

"Disgusting," Jon said disgusted.

Evy leaned forwards and scratched her camel's head. "I think they're adorable."

Nikki gently stroked her camel's head. "Me too. And you don't have to worry about them arguing with you like our male cohorts here."

Rick reached over and pinched his sister's arm, hard.

"Ouch!" Nikki retaliated by smacking him upside his head, barely realizing that the warden was singing in Arabic.

"Damn!"

"Let that be a lesson to ya," his sister said firmly. Though there was a hint of teasing within that statement.

She rushed ahead of the others, only staying two feet in front of them. Nikki didn't want to get too far ahead. If she wound up getting attacked by something, she wanted to make doubly damn sure that the others would see it and go somewhere else. Nikki wouldn't cry for help. The seventeen-year-old girl was incredibly stubborn in that field.

An hour later, Nikki could feel a tugging in the pit of her stomach saying that this whole adventure was wrong, that they should turn back before it's too late. Hell, it sounded more and more like another voice in her freaking head. Very freaky and annoying.

_I just don't get it! Why am I getting the distinct notion that this whole trip is gonna end up in disaster? Not good! Last time I got a feeling like this…Rick ended up nearly getting hung…_Nikki's thoughts were pulled to halt as she saw her brother staring at her.

"What?" she asked clearly annoyed.

"You all right?" Rick asked concerned. This wasn't like his sister, to go quiet and stay like that for longer than ten minutes. It'd been a whole hour and she hadn't said one bloody word.

Nikki put on a mask of cheer. "Never better! The sun's just bothering me a little, that's all."

Rick didn't believe her, but forgone arguing with her. Wouldn't have made any damn difference. Nikki would have just denied that anything was the matter and become very, very pissed with him. Rick didn't want that to happen. He loved his sister dearly, even if she did drive him bonkers all the time.

Hours later night had fallen. Nikki inwardly welcomed the darkness the night brought. Somehow, it seemed to fit the inner side of her being. Darkness to her symbolized loneliness, inner turmoil, death, and the shinning moon symbolized life, the tiniest hint of light with the darkness of the night as well as the stars.

Nikki was so caught up in her thoughts of the night, that she almost missed the horses sitting on the edge of a cliff overhead.

_Now that's weird,_ she thought. A whisper within her mind told her to not pay all that much heed to these beings watching them like desert hawks. _I get the feeling that I know who those guys are…but from where?_

"Rick," she whispered, bringing her brother forward. "Look there," she said softly, motioning towards the cliffs with her head.

She watched Rick scan the cliffs until he saw what she did.

His whole face became drawn, alert. "It's all right. I don't think they're going to attack us."

"_**Hope he's right,**_" she whispered softly in Egyptian, removing her eyes from the cliffs and continuing onwards.

Nikki shivered a little, wanting to suddenly look back over her shoulder as she felt eyes lingering on her form.

It unnerved her to think that they were still watching them. Honestly, it felt much more like they were watching her! Ooh, if she could, she'd send a shot in their direction! Nikki utterly hated having people stare at her! Makes her wanna go, 'take a picture! It lasts longer!'

"You sure they'll leave us alone?"

Rick stared at his sister. He nearly did a double take at the uneasiness that was flickering within her emerald eyes.

He nodded, "Yes, I'm sure."

"Okay," she mumbled, still feeling as if she was being stared at. The burning of eyes in her back was sort of proof that those people up on the cliffs hadn't diverted their gazes to something else. _This really sucks._

////

Morning light over the dunes wasn't noticeable just yet. Clouds of red, pink, purple and gray hung over us as we neared the outskirts of where Rick knew the Dead City was at. The sky actually had an almost ominous, supernatural feel to it.

This did not go unnoticed by Nikki O'Connell. She thought that it held the answers to many of her question about this trip. Disaster and death was looming overhead it seemed to tell her and this concerned the light brown haired girl very much.

The feeling of doom increased within her stomach, nearly forcing her to groan out in pain. But Nikki held it in. Perhaps her feelings were wrong about this whole thing, maybe she was just being paranoid. Though, her predictions had never been wrong in the past.

Hearing horses approaching them, Nikki's nose scrunched up in disgust as Beni and his little group appeared. She had half a mind to shot the weasel's head clean off his shoulders with her rifle, but refrained. An act of violence such as that wouldn't be so satisfying so early in the morning, perhaps when she felt more comfortable or had a drink.

"Good morning, my friend," the weasel, Beni greeted them.

Nikki clinched her fists and ground her teeth together. She really hated that man. If she could call him that.

"What the hell we doin'?" Daniels asked to Beni impatiently.

Nikki rolled her eyes at the man's impatience. _Wait for you guys to get eaten up by the sand,_ her mind offered her.

"Patience, my good barat'm. Patience," Beni replied over his shoulder.

"I don't even think he knows what that is," Nikki whispered over to her brother.

Rick nearly cracked a smile at that. She could see it.

"Remember out bet, O'Connell," Henderson said to Rick. "First one to the city, 500 cash bucks."

Rick shook his head; a smirk working it's way onto his face.

Nikki rolled her eyes at that too. These men were acting like little boys who had to act as if they were trying to prove who was better. Nikki thought they were idiots and from the look on her brother's face, she felt that he thought so too.

"Hundred of them bucks is yours if you help us win that bet," Daniels announced to Beni.

"Oh, my pleasure," Beni said, bowing his head.

_Yeah, sure it is. You fucking ham._ Nikki's mind was just full of wonderful things to say about people. Particularly those that she didn't exactly care for.

Rick and Nikki scoffed.

"Hey, O'Connell," Beni began with a cheesy grin. "Nice camel."

Nikki wasn't exactly sure if that was directed at her or Rick, but she just smiled and rubbed her camel's head affectionately. The animal lowed in appreciation, loving the attention that it was receiving from its mistress.

"Get ready for it," Rick said to Evy.

"For what?" she and Nikki questioned.

"We're about to be shown the way," was all he said.

Nikki and Evy's heads snapped in the direction of the rising sun. A small gasp tore from Nikki's mouth as the run rose and something began shimmering in the distance. It didn't take long for Nikki to realize that it was ruins of Hamunaptra forming underneath the sun's rays of beaming light.

She ignored everyone else's gasps and statements as she continued to stare, wide-eyed at this spectacular phenomenon, but she did hear her brother's comment.

"Here we go again," Rick said flatly.

The second the sun in was high within the distance of the sky and the ruins had taken on a more solid form the race to the city was on.

Nikki chuckled as Rick dashed it out with Beni for the lead and laughed loudly as the little man had been pulled from his camel onto the desert floor. She was even more pleased to find Evy pass him and make her way up to Rick.

Nikki, herself, managed to get her camel up to the lead with Rick and Evy, but not wanting to take all of the glory of beating the American's she allowed her new dear friend pass her and win them the 500 bucks.

Turning to look over her shoulder, Nikki could see and almost hear the cursing that the American's were saying as they had lost their money to them. She was tickled to death by this, especially since the money could be spilt five ways. Giving each one of them 100 dollars apiece.

"That'll teach those sidewinders not to mess with us," she whispered cheerfully.

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**Yeah, I know it's not really the best place to end a chapter, but I've gotta do it. The next chapter is the Long, lost City of the Dead! Stay tuned for that, oh and please let me know how I'm doing. If any of the original characters seems OOC, let me know right away and I'll do my very best to get them back to how they should be. ^-^ Ciao! **


	6. Long lost city of the dead

**Chapter Six: Long lost City of the Dead and the tomb**

**Disclaimer:**** I don't know about you folks, but I'm getting a might sick and tired of doing this damn things. So this might be the last frigg'n one that I do! Or maybe not. Who knows? **

**I don't own the mummy. I only own Nikki and the things that never happened with the movie itself.**

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Nikki wondered around her groups dig area, looking at the strange, ancient statues sticking out of the ground. For some obscure reason, they all seemed very familiar to her. Like she had seen them all before now.

Her eyes shifted to a half-buried statue that she knew was the statue of Anubis. Over the course of her life, Nikki had seen it many times in her dreams. Only, she never really imagined ever being able to actually see or touch it in this lifetime.

"I'm guessing that the statues legs are underground," she said out loud to no one.

Evy nodded, "Yes and according to Bembridge scholars, that's where we'll find a secret compartment containing the golden book of Amun-Ra."

The young O'Connell girl sighed earning a strange look from Evy.

"Are you all right?" she asked, dusting off an ancient mirror.

Nikki nodded, "Yeah, I'm just a little tired. That's all."

"I see," Evy said before her attention diverted over to her brother. "Jonathan, you're meant to catch the sun with that."

Jon nodded before proceeding to fix the mirror's position.

Nikki began to help polish off the mirror that Evy was holding when Rick started walking over to them after he secured a rope that would allow them entrance into the tomb.

"So, uh, what are these old mirror's for?" he asked trying to strike up a conversation with Evy.

Nikki bit the insides of her cheeks so she would laugh. It was really cute the way her brother was crushing on the young woman.

"Ancient mirrors," Nikki corrected.

"It's an ancient Egyptian trick. You'll see," Evy added on going back to positioning the mirror.

Rick nodded.

"Uh, here, this is for, uh, you," he said, taking what he was hiding behind his back and handing it to Evy. She just looked up at him puzzled. "Go ahead. It's something that I borrowed off our American brethren. I thought you might like it—might need it for when you're, uh," he made a chipping motion with his hands. "uh, yeah."

A smile crossed his sister's face. She thought he looked like a love-struck schoolboy who was very shy around girls. _That can't be my brother,_ Nikki though with a mental laugh.

"What are you lookin' at?" he demanded glaring at the warden.

Evy opened the brown bag that Rick had given her and softly gasped. Nikki's eyes nearly popped out of her head as she gazed at the archeological tools that were held inside.

"He's never done this for anyone…" Nikki softly whispered, not sure if Evy had caught it.

"Hey!" the warden said to Rick as he swung down into the tomb. "Look for bugs. I hate bugs!"

_And this man is a bug,_ Nikki thought humorlessly as she approached the rope and began climbing down Evy following close behind. Jonathan and the warden were the last ones to entered the tomb.

***Inside the tomb***

Nikki's eyes went wide as she gazed awestruck around the room that they were all currently standing in. A chill went down her spine at how familiar this place was to her.

"You realize we're standing in a room that no one has entered in over 3,000 years," she heard Evy say.

"Totally," Nikki whispered, coming to stand next to Evy.

"Whoo!" Jonathan exclaimed. "What is that god-awful stench?" he asked, just as the warden finished his climb off the rope. Jon took a few sniffs before pulling back. "Oh."

Nikki nearly choked on a laugh. She knew that the stench was coming from the warden for a long time. It amazed her that Jonathan hadn't smelled it earlier. She watched as Evy went over to another ancient mirror and dust off the cobwebs.

"And then there was," she began tilting the mirror back. "Light!"

The light bounced off the surface mirror to the one that Evy had just moved and reflected off all the others within the room that they were in.

"Hey, that is a neat trick," Rick said.

"Oh, my god," Evy gasped. "It's a sah-net jer!"

"Huh?"

"A preparation room," Nikki explained, earning shocked looks from Evy and Rick.

"You know what this place is," Evy squealed happily.

Nikki nodded, "Yep sure do."

"Since when?" Rick asked, not believing his ears.

His sister rolled her eyes. She was getting really annoyed right now.

"There are a lot of things that you don't know about me, big brother," Nikki said calmly. "Besides, I've always had a love for ancient Egypt."

Rick rolled his eyes. "Yeah. Sure. Now, preparation for what?"

"For entering the afterlife," both Nikki and Evy said giddily.

Rick pulled out a gun, feeling uneasy.

"Mummies, my good son," Jonathan said, reaching over and lighting his torch with Rick's. "This is where they made the mummies."

"Rather grueling work if ya ask me," Nikki muttered. "Not to mention taking great skill."

The five of them slowly, cautiously made their way out of the sah-net jer and into labyrinth of corridors. They all proceeded to just go straight. This was the most amazing thing that any of them had ever seen. One could tell that it was old, not just by the many cobwebs that adorned the walls entrance ways, but by the feel and smell of every corner of the tomb.

Excitement filled Nikki's body, but at the same time foreboding emotions began to blend in with her. There was something about this place that set off warning alarms within her mind. Telling her that they should get the hell out of there!

Hearing loud skittering, everyone began turning around looking for the source of the noise. Nikki had to duck a little so as not to get hit with the torch that Rick was holding. She didn't feel like getting burned.

"What was that?" Jonathan asked.

"Sounds like…bugs," Rick said purposely. Nikki got the feeling he said that to torture the warden.

"He said bugs," Evy whispered back to the others.

The warden flipped. "What do you mean, bugs? I hate bugs!"

_Well, that answers that question. Rick said it on purpose. Can't see why he hates them? After all the warden would fit in quite well as a member of the stinkbug family._ Nikki nearly burst into fits of laughter at that last part.

Turning a corner, Nikki found themselves staring strangely at a statue, no more like the legs of a statue. _Gotta be the legs of Anubis._

"The legs of Anubis," Evy stated, confirming the girl's thoughts. "The secret compartment should be hidden somewhere inside here," she added, as the approached the statue's legs.

Nikki became startled at the sudden sounds of roaring and moaning. She took a look around to see that the others had been as well.

Rick pulled Evy and his sister directly behind him. The moaning intensified and they all found themselves backed up against the statue. Rick pulled out his other gun and cocked it. Nikki took hers out and raised them as well. The warden and Jonathan following their lead and taking out their weapons as well.

_I don't like this,_ Nikki hissed in her head.

The tension seemed to increase with the sudden silence, which abruptly ended when they all jumped from behind the statue yelling as their guns came face to face with the Americans, Beni's and the diggers.

Henderson took a shaky breath. "You scared the bejesus out of us, O'Connell."

"Likewise," Rick said, uncocking his guns.

"Hey, that's my too kit," Burns stated coming forward as he saw what Evy was holding.

"No, I don't think so," Nikki said, aiming her guns at Burns. Everyone else's guns went up.

"Okay," Burns said nervously, backing up a bit. "Perhaps I was mistaken."

Nikki noticed the slightly peeved off look on her brother's face. "Yes, perhaps you are," she hissed, lowering her weapons. The others did the same.

"Well, have a nice day, gentlemen. We have a lot of work to be getting along with," Evy said, trying to ignore the tension that seemed to be hanging in the air of this small confrontation.

"Push off!" the Egyptologist snapped. "This is our dig site!"

"We got here first," Evy snapped. And up came the guns again! Seemed to be some kind of pattern or dance of the waving guns going on.

"This here's out statue, friend," Daniels sneered.

Nikki pointed one of guns right at his head. "I don't see your name written on it…pal."

Rick secretly grinned at his sister. He was very proud of her at the moment. He could then sense the change in her temper and knew that it was only a matter of time before she decided to just blow this man's brains out.

"Yes, well. There's only five of you and fifteen of me," Beni said, he almost seemed happy at this. "Your odds are not so great, O'Connell."

Evy stood behind all of them pushing some small rocks between a crack in the floor and heard them hit something below. An idea formed in her mind.

Rick pointed one of his guns at Beni's head. "I've had worse," he growled.

"Yeah, me too," Jonathan said.

Nikki and Rick just looked at him to which Jonathan nodded.

"Oh, look, for goodness' sake, let's be nice, children," Evy began, stepping between the two groups. "If we're going to play together, we must learn to share. There are other places to dig," she said meaningfully, placing a gentle hand on Rick's arm and looking at him square in the eyes.

////

"According to these hieroglyphics," Evy informed them as Rick and Jonathan began pealing away at the ceiling. "We're underneath the statue. We should come up right between his legs."

Nikki chuckled at how totally wrong that sentence sounded. She was currently trying to decipher the hieroglyphics on the walls.

"When those damn Yanks go to sleep—No offense—

"None taken," Rick said.

"we'll dig our way up and steal that book right out from under them," Jonathan finished.

"Are you sure we can find this secret compartment thing?" Rick asked Evy.

"Oh, yes, if those beastly Americans haven't beaten us to it," Evy answered, then added. "No offense."

"None taken," Nikki replied, coping her brother's earlier statement.

Jonathan looked around a moment. "Where'd our smell little friend get too?" he asked, glancing down to Nikki.

She looked up at the Englishman, highly annoyed at being asked such a stupid question. "How the hell should I know, Jonathan! Do I look like the warden's keeper?"

"Does your sister swear like that often?" Nikki heard Evy ask Rick.

Nikki tossed a glance in the woman's direction. "Every damn chance I can get." A smirk worked its way to Rick's mouth. He was highly amused by his sister right now.

"That's not the kind of language a lady should speak," Evy explained, scolding the young woman.

Nikki raised a brow, giving her friend a funny look. "Who ever said that I was a lady?"

Rick shook his head. "Not me," he chuckled, to which he earned a kick in the shins. XXXXXXXXXXXX

**All righty then! That is chapter…six, I believe. Chapter's seven and eight should be coming up momentarily. I do so hope that all of you are still with me here. It's taken me awhile to get this chapter just the way I wanted it. Well, let me know what y'all think of it. Ciao! **


	7. awakening of an ancient terror pt 1

Chapter Seven: Awakening an ancient Terror Pt. 1

**Disclaimer:**** -groans- I hate doing these damn things they are soooo irritating. But, they must be done to ensure that I don't get sued. Don't own Mummy. Universal owns and you should know by now what's mine and what isn't!**

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

A feeling of death swept over Nikki's being as a dark chill crept up and down her spine. Something wasn't right. There was something terribly, horribly wrong. Her face changed to one of uncertainty as she watched Jonathan use on of the tools as a gulf club and hit rocks against on of the walls.

"Let me get this straight," Rick said. "They ripped out your guts and they stuffed them in jars.

"They'd take out your heart as well," Evy said. "Oh and you know how they took out your brains?" Evy seemed to be quite fond of giving everyone this information.

"Evy, I don't think we need to know this," sounding a little sick.

Evy continued on away, "They'd take a sharp, red-hot poker, stick it up your nose scramble things about a bit and then rip it all out through your nostrils."

"That's gotta hurt," Rick said, placing his right hand over his nose.

"You're telling me," Nikki said in mild disgust.

"Well, it's called mummification," Evy explained to them. "You'll be dead when they do this."

"For the record: if I don't make it out of here," he said to Jonathan. "Don't put me down for mummification."

"Likewise," Jonathan said, hitting another rock to the wall. Only this time, the moment the rock hit something from the ceiling came crashing down, scaring the hell out of them.

Nikki had to quickly move, for it nearly crushed her. "_Damn,_" she muttered in Arabic. "_That was a close one._"

Evy coughed, getting a good look at the object that fell. "Oh, my God. It's a—It's a sarcophagus." She looked up at the hole in the ceiling.

"Buried at the base of Anubis," Nikki whispered.

"He must have been someone of great importance," Evy began, then glanced towards Rick "Or he did something…very naughty."

Nikki just stared at this sarcophagus. Darkness seemed to cloud her vision as it changed from ancient grounds to when they were first there. She saw men with strange tattoos on their faces burying the sarcophagus. Nikki shivered as coldness hit her body and she was then thrown back into her normal time.

Squinting, Nikki could sense a dark aura and evil radiating off the outer box of the buried individual. They weren't supposed to be here! _This thing isn't supposed to be bothered!!_ Her mind screamed. Nikki shook her head, trying to make sense of things and get her mind back under control.

She wanted to yell at Evy to not touch the coffin as she watched the woman blow away some of the sand and dust that was on it. Nikki stood next to her.

"Well, who is it?" Jonathan asked.

" 'He That Shall Not Be Named'", Nikki and Evy read.

"You can ready ancient Egyptian?" Evy asked, clearly startled by this revelation.

Nikki nodded, "Yep, can read, speak and write it."

"Amazing!"

"Yeah, it is," Rick mumbled, bending down and blowing some sand away. "This looks like some sort of a lock."

"Well, whoever's in here sure wasn't getting out," Jon commented.

"Yeah, no kidding. It'd take us a month to crack into this thing without a key," Rick said.

"A key?" Evy questioned. "A key! A key! That's what he was talking about!"

"Who was talking about what?" Rick questioned, looking at Jonathan who just shrugged. He didn't have any clue to what his sister was talking about either.

"The man! The man on the barge. The one with the hook. He was looking for a key," Nikki informed them, her hands waving in the air, as Evy took out the box and opened it.

"Hey that's mine!" Jonathan whined.

Nikki and Evy gave him impatient looks as Evy placed the box right on top of the lock. It fit perfectly.

They both looked at Rick and Evy smiling cutely, yet smugly.

This moment was broken by the sounds of the warden's screams. Nikki and Rick grabbed their guns rushing out with Evy and Jonathan right behind them.

The warden ran right passed them, screaming in agony and running right down the hall. Slamming his head straight on into a wall, dying on impact.

"Let's get the hell out of here!" Rick declared and the others followed him, running at top speed out of the tomb.

////

Nikki sat around the fire with Evy and Jonathan. Feeling suddenly guilty about having been right about the feeling of death that had hit her earlier in the tomb. She almost wished that she had told Rick about it. Sure, he may have not taken it into consideration, but he wouldn't have thought her a nut job either. Rick had known about these prediction type feelings that Nikki got for a very long time, so he would have listened to her.

"What do you supposed killed him?" Evy asked, staring into the campfire.

Me and my damn predictions, Nikki thought bitterly. Somehow she felt that it would have been best if she just stayed back in Cairo. Working in a bar with all those randy customers that came in all the time. They were much more easier to deal with than this. Facing death wasn't something that Nikki was particularly fond of.

"Did you ever see him eat?" Jon asked sarcastically. Though, it did sound very serious to Nikki.

She looked from her thoughts to see Rick walking over to them.

"Seems out American friends had a little misfortune of their own today," he said coming to sit between me and Evy. "Three of their diggers were, uh, melted."

"What?" Evy whispered.

"How?" Jon asked.

Nikki could feel the guilt grow suddenly. Now she was responsible for four people's deaths. Just fucking fantastic!

"Salt acid," Rick answered. "Pressurized salt acid. Some kind of ancient booby trap."

"Maybe this place really is cursed." Just as soon as Jon said that the wind howled and blew the fire a little and didn't touch any of the people surrounding it. Rick and Jon stared at it for a moment.

"Oh, for goodness' sake, you two!" exclaimed Evy.

"You don't believe in curses, huh?" Rick asked, taking a stick and poking at the fire.

"No, I don't," she answered with conviction. "I believe if I can see it and I can touch it, then it's real. That's what I believe."

Rick reached for his rifle. "I believe in being prepared," he said, cocking the weapon.

Nikki nodded, "Ditto."

"Let's see what our friend the warden believed in," Jonathan said, taking the wardens shoulder bag and rummaging in it before quickly pulling it back out yelping.

Evy screamed. "My God, what is it?"

"A broken bottle," Jon replied.

Evy sighed in relief.

"Glenlivet. Twelve years old!" Jonathan exclaimed. "Well, he may have been a stinky fellow, but he had good taste."

Nikki swiped the bottle from Jon's hands. "Got that right!" she announced, taking a big swig and then handing it back to him.

"You drink?" Jonathan asked amazed that this woman's face didn't contort in disgust at having tasted liquor.

Nikki wiped her mouth and grinned. "Every chance I can get. Believe me with all the crap that I've had to put up with the last few years, I deserve to get sloshed." _Though it's impossible to do so. High alcohol tolerance._

The sound of whinnying horses interrupted the conversation.

"Here, take this," Rick said, handing the rifle to Evy. "And stay here. Nikki, you come with me."

She nodded, picking up her guns and making sure her daggers were with her as she hurried off after her brother. She vaguely heard Evy yelling at Rick to wait up for her.

_So much for staying put,_ Nikki thought, running to the American's camp.

////

Coming into the camp of the American's Nikki found it almost completely engulfed in huge flames. Men on horseback were riding around, throwing torches and killing those in the camp. The American's were fighting back, shooting at anything that was trying to kill them.

Nikki knew that these guys were familiar, she'd fought them on the Nile. _Great! Nice to see these guys again and what a wonderful way of making my guilt cut into me deeper!_ She thought, taking aim and shooting at any black robed men that were near.

She ducked as a few bullets came whizzing past her and threw herself behind a fallen pillar.

Looking around, she found Jonathan drinking and firing his gun as some horsemen came riding past. For being a little drunk, he sure knew how to hit a moving target with perfection.

It wasn't till a few moments later that Jonathan came whizzing by her spot.

"O'Connell! Nikki!" he cried as a man on horseback chased him.

Luckily, Nikki saw Rick knock the man off his horse. However, the relief that she felt quickly turned to pure terror as the man took out some kind of sword and began swinging it at her brother, removing the gun from his hands.

"Rick!" she hollered running towards them. She didn't reach her brother because the man suddenly grabbed her, tightly wrapping an arm around her waist and pressing the blade of the sword against her throat. _What the?_

"_Goddamn it!_" she cursed softly in Arabic. The arm around her waist tightened even more, reminding her that she couldn't get away. Especially with a blade at her throat.

Nikki watched as Rick ducked down and lit a stick of dynamite. _That's some real thinking there, bro,_ she thought darkly. _Blow us all up to kingdom come!!_ Nikki shuddered as a musky scent found its way into her nose. It was highly pleasing.

Carefully moving, so as not to get cut from the blade she gasped. The man that had her was an absolute dream! _Okay dark hair, dark eyes…yeah, those strange tattoos. Fuck my life! This guy is one hundred percent gorgeous!_ She mentally kicked herself. _Nice going Nikki, this guy could kill you easily and you're crushing on him. Brains are not your strong suit. That's for sure!_ She shook her head carefully. _Damn…I'm going nuts! Talking to myself again!!_

She was so wrapped up in staring at him that she hadn't realized that he said something, let alone let her go. That is until he spoke again.

"But you must leave. Leave this place or die," he said, voice sounding silky to Nikki's ears. Dear Gods, the woman was swooning…someone call 911!

Accent, very familiar. God damn it, girl!!! You need to be paying attention to what this guy is saying. Fat chance of that happening…

"You have one day," he said jumping back onto his horse.

Nikki blinked a few times, then noticing that he was looking right in her direction before he gave the word for his men to leave. She didn't catch it, for her heart was pounding wildly in her ears. This really was not like her.

Nikki gasped as Jonathan's hand landed on her shoulder.

"Don't do that!" she cried, placing a hand over her heart and panting.

"Sorry," Jon apologized. "But you didn't seem to be in your right mind."

Nikki smiled, feeling guilty for having yelled at Jonathan. "No, it's okay. But you're right, I wasn't anywhere near this place. My mind was floating away." She added, gesturing a little with her hands.

Jonathan laughed. He rather liked her sense of humor.

"That proves it!" Daniels declared. "Ol' Seti's fortune's got to be under this sand."

"For them to protect it like this," Henderson added. "You just know there's treasure done there."

Nikki shook her head, disagreeing with them completely. "No, I don't think so."

"And why not?" Daniels snipped.

"Because," Rick explained. "These men are a desert people."

"They value water, not gold," Nikki finished. Smiling smugly at Daniels. Gods, she really detested that man.

Burns stepped forward. "You know, maybe just at night, we could, uh, combine forces, hmm?"

Nikki rolled her eyes, moving slowly away from the group to the entrance of the ruins. She need time to think. Mostly about her sudden attraction to men that would more likely want to kill her than speak to her and about this whole doom and gloom sensation that she had been sensing this whole time.

"One of these damn days," she muttered bitterly. "I'm going to have to stop being right about this kind of stuff!!"

"Hey, Nikki!" Her brother called. "Will you get back in here!"

Jumping out of her ravine, Nikki calmly began to walk back into the city. Looking up the dark night sky, she prayed that nothing else horrible happen to her or the others. "Please, don't let anything happen to them."

XXXXXXX

**And that's it. –Laughs evilly- no, sorry, but that's not it! Just kidding.**

XXXXXXXX

The next morning…

Nikki felt a twinge of a bad luck vibe as her brother and Jonathan sat the sarcophagus up against the wall.

"Oh, I've dreamed of this since I was a little girl," Evy exclaimed excitedly.

"You dream about dead guys?" Nikki asked. She couldn't help feel amused by this.

Evy ignored her. "Look his sacred spells have been chiseled off…"

"He was not only cursed in this life, but the next," Nikki whispered.

"Tough break," Rick said.

"Yeah," Jonathan grunted, turning the key into the lock. "I'm all tears. Now let's see who's inside shall we?"

_Something really unpleasant,_ Nikki thought as she hide the horror on her face.

The seconds seemed to tick by before Rick and Jonathan were finally able to open the lid.

"Ahhh!!" they all screamed, as the mummy seemed to pop out.

"Oh, god, I hate it when these things do that," Evy panted.

Nikki moved closer to inspect the mummy. It didn't look quite right to her. _That's sick._

"Is he supposed to look like that?" Rick asked looking a little green and disgusted.

Evy shook her head. "No, I've never seen a mummy look like this before. He still, still…"

"Juicy," the other three supplied.

"Yes, he must be over three thousand years old and it looks as if he's still…"

"Decomposing," Nikki finished, stepping back a little bit as a chill went right up her spine. She wasn't liking this at all.

Rick glanced down to where the lid was lying. "Hey, take a look at this," he said, kneeling down by it and pointing at the markings inside. "What do you make of this?"

"My god, these marks were made with…" Evy gasped as she traced the markings with her fingers. "Fingernails."

"This man was buried alive," Nikki whispered just low enough for them to hear.

"And look," Evy continued. "He left a message: 'Death is only the beginning'," she and Nikki said at the same time.

Another dark chill went right down her spine as Nikki read this. Something about those words struck her as odd and familiar, but just where she had heard it from before this she did not know.

_Things are about to get a lot more fucked up…_she thought with an inward shudder.

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**There you have it! ^-^ My damn DVD player wasn't working properly for me to actually watch the movie during the last parts of this chapter. So if I missed anything, I am sorry. Very, truly sorry and I promise to make it up to all of you in the next chapter.**

**Oh and I wish to apologize for the overdue update. Been working really hard on a lot of other projects and my novel. Please do forgive me.**

**I made this chapter a little longer just for all of you dear readers and my wonderful reviewers. ^-^ I hope to mention them in the next chapter. That is all for now. Part two will be up in a matter of days.**


	8. Author's Note

**Author's Note****: Sorry, but due to some technical problems updates will take me even longer to accomplish. But not to worry, I have the next few chapters all done for all stories I have out--that are more than one chapter--and they'll be up as soon as the computer starts letting me in to get them!**


	9. awakening of an ancient terror pt 2

**-Hides behind a desk- I AM SO SORRY! I know I'm like a year…okay, over a year behind in the update of this story, but I haven't watched the movie in **_**that**_** long of a time. Oh and there's gonna be some little changes here it's gonna all be in Nikki's POV from here on out. Why? Because I want to that's why! Now please put the shotguns down and let me finally get this thing updated!**

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Uh, this was just freaking great! I couldn't sleep! Yeah, Rick and some of the others were wide awake, but that didn't mean I wanted to be up with the freaking birds! A lot had happened and I wanted to sleep. Sure standing guard was something that did intrigue me, but that doesn't necessarily mean I wanted to do it when I was long over due in the sleep department. Hello!

At one point, I just tossed back the blanket, walked right out of the tent and to my amazement no one else was awake, except for Evy. Uh-oh. I got this overall feeling that she was up to something incredibly sneaky and wouldn't ya know it, I watched her go right over to where the Egyptologist was sleeping and gently take the Book of the Dead right out of his hands. Huh, it looks like the man wasn't all that into making sure that it wasn't taken away from him.

Okay, the old guy was tired but still I doubt I would've fallen asleep if I wanted to protect something _that_ important. And in some ways, I guess you could say that I was seriously full of it. (And perhaps I am.)

"Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't that called stealing?" I asked her, voice dripping with dry sarcasm as she got the key from Jonathan's pocket.

"According to your brother and mine," she answered, setting the book down and opening it. "It's called borrowing."

Really? Well, it's borrowing in my book…but I wasn't going to inform her of that. Oh, hell no.

"Ah, well, it's hard to correct something that's basically been built into their freaking system," I muttered, before crying out as Rick's hand hit the back of my head. "Damn it, Rick!" I snarled.

"Don't talk about people if you can't accept the consequences," he bit back. "And I thought that the Book of Amun Ra was made out of gold?"

Ah, my brother, the eternal idiot. Didn't he realize that this was something else? Hell, I recognized the book when the Egyptologist first brought the book out. However, I did the greatest thing of keeping my friggin' mouth shut.

I nodded. "Yep, but this isn't the book of Amun Ra," I stated matter-of-factly. "Am I right or is this the Book of the Dead? I'm right. Aren't I Evy?"

The excitement upon her face was totally beautiful. I mean, come on this was like Disney Land to the woman! Hell, it would've been like that for me too if the feeling of dread hadn't suddenly overcome my insides.

"You are absolutely right," she said giddily, turning a few pages.

"The Book of the Dead?" Rick questioned skeptically. I rolled my eyes. "Are you sure you should be playing around with this thing?"

I sighed. "Oh, it's a book for crying out loud. I don't think there's any harm in reading a book, dear brother of mine."

A strange feeling of doom hit me right after I had said that. I wanted to take it back, but…I didn't. Oh, man, I probably shoulda kept my freaking mouth shut.

It wasn't long after that that Evy began reading out of the book, and translating a lot of that to Rick. And at one point, I ended up saying the words in Ancient Egyptian with her as well…I don't know why, but the words seemed to flow out of my mouth without me really reading directly out of the book itself. Like, I was in a trance myself.

A few seconds later, the Egyptologist yelled out at the two of us to not read out of the book.

_A little late for the damn warning pops,_ I thought bitterly. _We just did._

"Uh," they looked at me. "Do ya hear the sounds of flying?"

All of our eyes darted to the entrance to the city, seeing thousands of locusts flying directly towards us. Rick grabbed Evy's hand and my arm, Jonathan running right behind us with the Americans and their cronies. Yeah, things were really going to go down hill from here.

/

_Okay, can someone please tell me when in the hell did I get the idea to get separated from the others?_ It was a thought that happened to pass through my mind as I ran in the opposite direction of the others. I don't know why I got the notion to do that…but something told me it was a good idea. Instinct I think.

I froze as a cold chill ran right through my spine. Ya know what, screw instinct! And right at this point, I don't think it was instinct that was sending me in this direction…more like panic and a whole ton of fear! Oh, yeah and the fear radiating off of the others. Oh, geez, being an empath was really not something I needed to be dealing with at this point in time. (Uh, that should've been explained sooner, but…mysteries are pretty great to have in my life. Hopefully I'll get to shoot something. Ooh, was I getting the itch to do that.)

"Um…is something there?" I gently called out as a low growling sound resounded from off the walls.

Nothing.

Okay, totally freaky. "Please…" I was seriously freaked out now. I so did not like being scared. It seriously pissed me off!

Another growl. I about jumped ten feet in the air when a louder growl came from directly behind me. Whirling around, I bit down on a scream as I stared at something that I never thought I'd ever see.

**XXXXXXXXX**

**-Nervous laugh- Okay, I know that Nikki might not be the same as she is in all the other chapters, but I haven't been into this story in over a year! And I'm freaking tired! Give me a damn break please. Okay, I know that's a long shot, but what the heck.**

**Please review. It's a love that I seriously need to experience once again.**


	10. To Blame

All right folks. I'm back with the next installment of this story…so please, sit back, shut up and enjoy the friggin' ride.

_**As I've said before that from now on the story will be in Nikki's POV, so if y'all have a problem with it, deal with it 'cause it ain't changing any time soon.**_

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It's always nice to see about ten or twelve men surround you with rifles pointed at your head. I didn't think I'd see these black dressed flunkies again. But I should've realized that the warning they gave us last night wasn't all just talk. Hell, right now I was speechless as the one who warned us earlier stood right there in front of me asking me questions. Yeah, like I was in position to answer anything at this point in time. I stood there like an idiot for crying out loud. Normally I would've made a few snide comments, but currently my vocal cords weren't working and my brain had shut completely off. Great.

It was at this point in time that I did the most embarrassing thing that I could do: I passed out.

Next thing I knew, I was in my brother's arms feeling very disoriented and watching as Mr. Burns was dragged from behind a line of these black dressed guys with no eyes and it looked as if his tongue was also missing. Friggin' scary! Not like I was in any inclination to be scared…I was feeling nothing at the moment.

The leader or whoever he was, was talking as well as my brother who seemed to have no grasp whatsoever that this 'creature' was immortal. I hadn't seen the 'creature' but something told me that the dear ol' mummy had come to life. Now all I had to do was figure out how.

"Did I miss something?" I whispered.

Rick helped me stand up. "I'll tell ya later. As soon as we're all out of this damn place." Gotta love the language. "Now come on, we gotta pack up quick and get the hell outta here." I fully agreed.

/

We managed to get back to Cairo and Rick did keep his promise to tell me what had transpired back at the old long lost city. I was amazed that the mummy had indeed come back…and I was certain that Evy and I were to blame for the whole situation. Next time I get the urge to read from an ancient book, I'm gonna make damn sure that I can't read whatever the language is…

I sat on the balcony, hearing Rick and Evy arguing inside the bedroom about staying here. Rick did have a point that we needed to leave this place…but I was more inclined to stay since I was also to blame for what had gone on. And no one was gonna try to tell me otherwise. Well, at least Rick hadn't blamed me for all this…yet. Evy had no trouble in stating that she and I were responsible for this mess. Last thing I heard was the door slamming…

"You know, he does have a point," I said as I came back into the room. "We really should leave this place."

Evy glared at me. "Don't tell me that you actually agree with your brother."

I shrugged. "Not really. All I said was he had a point. But since we're both to blame for this situation I do think that we should stay and figure out how in the hell to deal with this damn mummy."

She stared at me. "You're starting to sound like your brother."

I blinked. "I'm not Rick, Evy. I'm more to agree with you instead of him."

"So…"

"I don't know how to do this. But, we really need to find a way to get information on how to get rid of this bandaged menace." I don't know what in the hell I was supposed to say to Evy…but I figured that my staying here with her would've been quite helpful.

"We need to do some research."

I nodded. "Fine, but I'm not reading anything else Ancient Egyptian," I laughed. Evy looked less than amused, but she agreed that neither one of us should read from another ancient book. "Before we begin, I think I need to inform my idiot of a brother that I'm staying."

Evy didn't argue with me as I left the room. I knew for a fact that Rick would most definitely not be pleased with me for wanting to stay behind and fight something immortal, but I had no other choice in the matter. I could not allow an immortal mummy to go roaming freely causing all kinds of hell to the whole of the planet. I'm sorry but that just was not on my list of things to do.

**XXXXXXX**

_Yeah, I know that the chapter is very, very short, but I have reason for this and that is, I want this story to at least go out as long as I can stretch it. I don't want it done in like twelve chapters…I'm hoping I can stretch it to like fifteen or sixteen. If I can manage it. So again, I'm sorry for the shortness, but this is just a little filler of sorts. I wanted there to be some actual conversation between Evy and Nikki. It'll happen again later on down the line too, so watch out!_

_Reviews are like chocolate for me…one bite and I can't get enough!_


	11. Serious Trouble

**All right everyone! I'm back with the next chapter and it should be quite interesting…-Grins- Okay, I'm done with that little headliner. Now hear this, now hear this. Things within the next couple of chapters is about to get only slightly crazy…or really nutso depending on the mood I am in or on how many of you wish for craziness. This chapter shall be in dedication to Lady Wesker**** for being the first one to review on the last chapter I had placed up. I may hold dedication chapters to those who review…but it all depends on who's first and who asks the right questions! LOL**

****

Upon leaving Evy's room I was suddenly overcome with the fear of telling Rick that I was going to be staying. I don't know why I felt that way. I knew that when it came right down to it I'd easily be able to kick his butt if he so much as tried to prevent me from 'saving the world'. 'Course, I couldn't help but shudder at the idea of being seen as a hero through this whole mess…but I'd worry about all that later. Right now I'd have to go and deal with a man who could easily be a pain and was quite over-protective when it came to my safety. Correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't Rick teach me all that he knew about being able to protect myself? Ack, there's a stupid question to ask one's self. Okay, breathe and find the idiot that seems so determined to forget that this whole mess happened in the first place. Contract indeed.

Following the hall and the stairs, I knew by instinct that Rick would be in the hotel bar. After his little fight with Evy I figured the man would go get a drink. Kind of had me wondering how drunk he got after dealing with me…I'd have to ask him that one at a later time for blackmail purposes. Just have to be sure not to get in the way of his temper…oh, who in the hell am I kidding! Getting into a fight with Rick would be the best way to release all the damn built up irritation that was filtering my system. Then again, I could probably use Jonathan as a punching bag since he seemed to be so used to that. After all, didn't Rick use him as one earlier in this disastrous adventure? Make a mental note and get back to it later.

"Rick," I called as innocently as I could once I spotted him with Jonathan and two of the other Americans. "Can I talk to you for a moment?"

I think Rick muttered something about troublesome females before he came over to see what I wanted. I let the insult slide this time. I'd be able to get him for it later on anyway. "What?"

I grinned. "You seem troubled brother, is everything all right?" By the look on his face, I knew that he wasn't buying the innocent act. Not that it really bothered me. This was just a put-on game to see if he'd lash out at me for wanting to remain back here with Evy.

Rick glared. "Just tell me what you want, Nikki. I'm not in the mood to be playing games." Big surprise.

"Touchy, touchy," I said in a mock British accent. "I just wanted to let you know that I was planning on remaining here with Evy. I think it'd be a good idea to at least have someone here in case things so a bit…crazy?" The last part came out like a question. I don't know why it did, but it did and it drove me right up the flippin' wall too! Rick's eyes narrowed…I knew that this was not going to go well at all.

"No."

I blinked. "Excuse me?"

"I said no," my brother repeated with more authority and conviction. Just what in the hell was wrong with me staying behind.

"And why not?" Ooh, I was really pressing it if the clenching of the jaw was any indication.

"For one thing, it's too dangerous and another the contract with Evy is terminated," he growled. The man actually growled that out like it was the most obvious thing on this Earth! Okay, I just did not believe for one instant that Rick only thought of Evy as a contract…but the way he said it, I just damn near believed the swarmy S.O.B.

I raised a brow. "Since when in the hell has anything been too dangerous for me Richard O'Connell?" I demanded testily. "And I'll have you know that I'm doing anything under contract. I don't even think we had with Miss Evy and I'll be grateful if you didn't talk about her like she wasn't anything important."

Rick snorted. Okay, he was seriously getting on my last nerve. "Nikki, I'm not leaving you here to deal with something that can't be killed. An immortal mummy is not something you've got experience in dealing with."

"Says the man who shot him," I retorted sarcastically. By now I could see Jonathan glancing over at us every now and then, trying to determine if it's all right for him to come over and see what the hell had the two of us so upset. Sorry Jon, but you're not gonna find out. _Rick's being way too much of an ass for me not to be at least a little curious. Hell, he knows damn well that I read out of that book too. Maybe that's it! He thinks I'll try reading some damn weird incantation and bring down the whole of the human race._ "You're mad at me aren't you?"

Rick blinked. "What?"

"You're mad that I read out of the book too and woke up that mummy," I explained, eyes guarded and arms crossed. "That's why you don't want me to stay here. You're mad and you think I'll do something just as crazy."

His silence told me everything that I needed to know in this situation. I turned to walk away, not noticing the slight confused expression on my dear brother's face as I called over my shoulder. "You should've just left me back at the Lost City…"

/

Five minutes later, I found myself reading out of some of the books that Evy and brought with her, my pistols were firmly strapped to my thighs in the likely event that I'd be needing them. I stayed behind in her room for the simple reason that I didn't want to end up running into my brother or killing someone either. There'd been a lot unsaid back in the bar…I knew that between what Rick said and what he didn't say that he still thought of me as a simple child that needed constant watching. Well, I wasn't that damn child anymore.

Curling up, I got to an interesting section about Seti I. It basically talked about this ruling, but there was one part that I couldn't understand…mainly because it'd been blocked out earlier by a black marker. Really ticks me off when someone ruins a book because of something that they don't want anyone to know… "Now that's gotta mean something."

I jumped right up out of my chair, running out of the room to find Evy and ask her about something when all of a sudden I heard a high-pitched scream followed by a roar of something that definitely wasn't human. I threw the book onto the ground, running towards Mr. Burns's room. That's where the sounds had been coming from. I didn't understand why, but I got the nagging feeling that our dear friend the mummy had come to the fort for something other than the Cairo food. Don'tcha just hate knowing a simple fact, but not knowing how you know it in the first place? Okay more on that later.

Sliding into the room, I nearly ran into my brother's back as he started to shoot at something directly in front of him, Jonathan and the Americans. Evy I saw from the corner of my eye standing near a bookcase. Pulling my pistols from the straps, I maneuvered past Rick to see that big, bad and bandaged was back. Oh, no. This was really not good. I didn't get a chance to fire as the creature walked right up to my brother and flung him backwards with the others. I managed to get closer to Evy just in case, but now that I was what in the hell was I supposed to do with this damn peashooter?

The creature walked right up to Evy and me. Saying something in Ancient Egyptian. I wasn't paying attention as I tried to shield Evy with my body. The next thing I knew, the creature had bent his head down towards mine, like he wanted to kiss me…Yuck! Kissing a dead man is just not on my A-list of priorities. Luckily, the white cat had jumped on the piano, meowing and scaring the living daylights out of said mummy before contact could be made. Praise the kitties for saving me and my best friend from this horror known as 'kissing the living dead'. No pun intended of course.

"We are in very serious trouble," Rick said as he watched the sand disappear. I gave him a look that basically said, "No shit". Trouble seemed to be very high at this point. And I knew instantly that things were going to get a whole lot worse from here.

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

**Yet again, another short chapter. I am sorry for doing this, but as I've said before. I intend to make this go for as long as possible. I expect to enjoy writing this story…not rushing through it to get it done for crying out loud. Where in the hell is the fun in that? Don't answer that question. Anyhoo, if there are any grammar mistakes, I am quite sorry. I'll go back through sometime to edit them, but right now I am done with this chapter and will have the next one up in a day or two. Maybe three if I can't get to computer. Cross your fingers and wish me luck!**

_**IMPORTANT!**__ Things are not going to unwind any time soon. The action is going to get started in a good hurry next chapter. Along with some confrontation. This is important because after the next chapter, the updates might go slow again (hopefully not too slow). But unless someone dies or I get so ill that I can't move a muscle I will continue writing. Oh and please pay attention to any notes that I place at the beginning or ending of each chapter. They get placed for a reason so don't ignore them trying to read the chapter in a hurry. Now, I am done with this little rant and I can assure you that there will be more to come._

_**Suggestions: **__I hope that any of you who have read this story will go and read Can't Be Tamed or Jurassic Park: Survival. They are both JP stories (obviously) and quite good believe it or not. Both done by me. It's just a suggestion if you like my writing and I'd be grateful to anyone who reads it. __**(No criticizing them. I'm not having that happen, not for those two stories anyway.)**_


	12. Meeting Again

**Hey everyone! I'm back! I know it's been a long time since I last worked on this story, but I'd been busy with other things and I just plain forgot what the hell I was doing on this story. So needless to say I had to go back and re-read the entire story. Yeah, that's a downright pain in the ass to do. Hopefully I can get back into the swing of things and get this story going again. Now I am not going to go through the whole movie in perfect sync. Meaning, I'm taking things over to get this story done. I may not have all the dialogue correct, but that doesn't matter since whatever I put down will be just as good (or so I hope). Now let me get on with this next chapter. Please forgive the lastness of this update.**

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**Chapter Twelve: Meeting Again**

This has got to be without a doubt the worst day I've ever had in my entire life! Mainly because some damn dead guy just tried to lock lips with me…actually that was the main thing that pissed me the hell off! Along with Rick's stupid attitude that I'd do something crazy and that I couldn't take care of myself. I may shoot my own brother before this whole situation is resolved. A thought that really pleases more than I can really say!

We were currently heading into the doors of a museum, I didn't pay attention to what the name was since I was busy planning my brother's funeral. Yes, I love Rick dearly but I swear if he goes around trying to order me to something again I may end his damn life! Then again, I may not. Uh, this is just too damn confusing.

"He seems to like you and Nikki," Rick said to Evy as we traveled through the halls. The Americans were with us too. How utterly delightful.

"Yeah, what's that about?" Jonathan asked. Hell, I was thinking the same thing as well. Just what did tall, wrapped up and dead want with me and Evy anyway? Then again, I do not want to know the answer!

My eyes widened as the scenery changed suddenly, but only for a second and I barely had time to register what it was that I had seen. Damn these visions for appearing when they're not needed—especially when I can't make heads or tails of them.

I sighed, "Just what does he want with us?" I asked out loud to nobody.

I missed what Evy had said but I figured it out when we got into the main room and found the curator there with our dear black clothed friend from the desert. I think I about turned ten shades of red from either embarrassment (for no reason) or just from plain pure fury that we'd have to deal with this guy again.

"What is he doing here?" Evy asked as Rick and the others pulled out their guns. I just stood there staring for a few brief moments before rolling my eyes at the idiocy of the scene.

"Do you really want to know," the curator began, "or would prefer to just shoot us?" Was that a trick question?

I frowned, taking a step next to Rick and gently nudged him in the side, "I'd prefer to shoot them." I got a look from both men that stood in front of us, but I could care less. I was in a foul mood thanks to two idiots: one being alive and the other dead.

Evy shook her head. "No we need answers, Nikki. Shooting them won't help us." I disagree.

"I'd sure make me feel better," I stated as we moved to a different room. This place was pretty big. Not like that bothered me. "I don't trust either one of them." Uh, yeah, I seem to have gone back into the non-trusting girl I was when I was a mere child.

Jon nudged me gently. "Hey, you trust me don't you?"

I rolled my eyes, ignoring the question as I felt eyes staring into my back. I didn't bother looking back. I had no real desire to see whom it was staring at me. Once we got into the room where we'd all be discussing this like, hopefully, rational adults, I took a seat on the floor facing the wall and interestingly enough tried to get myself to have another vision. I had no earthly desire to hear any of this conversation because for some unknown reason, I knew what it'd be about and what was going to be said. Talk about freaky!

"You okay, Nikki?" Rick asked from the chair he placed himself in. I didn't answer as I continued to stare ahead as the curator began speaking. I tuned him out.

"And you think this justifies in the killing of innocent people!" Evy declared shocked. It was her voice that woke me up. Thanks a lot Evy.

"To stop this creature," the curator began, "let me think. Yes!"

"Question: why doesn't he like cats?" Rick asked. I couldn't stop myself from answering. "Because cats happen to be guardians of the underworld. He'll fear them until he is fully regenerated."

Ardeth, I'd finally remembered the introduction, and the curator stared at me with wide eyes. "How'd you know that?"

I blinked, shaking my head a little to clear it and shrugged. "Beats the hell out of me. I just did. But what I can't understand is why the creature tried to kiss me back in Mr. Burns's room. It doesn't make any sense to me."

"He tried to kiss you?" I do believe Ardeth asked that question.

Again I rolled my eyes. I seemed to be doing that a lot as of late. "I do believe I just said that. I don't remember lapsing into Swedish." Ah, the smart ass me is coming out. Lovely.

The rest of the conversation turned dark once it was revealed that the creature would be trying to revive his long dead love. And apparently Evy and I were to be the sacrifices. Great! And here I thought only one would be needed for this kind of thing. And no, I do not sound at all pleased with this damn predicament. I am just that far gone right now in the emotional department to actually give a damn about myself being a victim. It was Evy that concerned me. Especially since I was convinced that there were feeling between Rick and her that were not that of contempt or contract.

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

**Yeah, it doesn't make much since, but like I said earlier I'm not really back into the swing of this story and I had to write whatever in the hell managed to pop into my head. Plus, I don't have the movie with me and looking it up seems like a right pain in the ass to do. So right now I'm at a loss. I do hope that this will placate everyone who's been dying for this to be updated. I did try to do the best I could. But well, I may redo this chapter at some future times when I can.**


	13. Sneaking out trouble

**YO, I'm back Peeps! Yes, I finally decided to get off my ass and update this story. Don't expect the chapter to be too damn long because as of right now my brain is fried. So I'll do my best to entertain you all. Also, this chapter I'm sure wasn't even in the movie! If there is anything that was from the film, then there ya go. I tried something random at least. Okay, to the chappy!**

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

I was never more pissed off in my whole life! My dear ol' brother Rick decided that the best way to keep my damn ass safe was to lock me in my freaking room! Yeah that's real smart Big brother considering the fact that I really have no wish to be locked up. Not like I have a wish to be turned into a sacrifice neither, but hey, a girl has to be allowed to decide that neither action is acceptable. Besides, I wanted to help find that blasted mummy! At least he wouldn't have to go lookin around for me. The idea of waiting didn't exactly bring me any kind of joy. So unhappily, I sat down on the bed, staring out the window and began plotting all the ways to dissect my brother's brains out. (Yes, that's how freaking ticked off I was! I wasn't even sounding like myself at this point in time.)

Then it came to me. There was a window…and Rick was currently trying to make sure that Evy didn't go anywhere either so it makes perfect sense for little ol' me to just sneak the hell out of here. Yes, that's right. I'll just sneak out and make doubly damn sure that I don't get caught: BY ANYTHING! Plus, I've got this itch to shoot something so with any luck I'll run into Beni and be able to use him for target practice.

Going to the window, I flung it open, silently, and proceeded to climb down on the vine that had very nicely grown next to the room I was staying in. Ah, me, if Rick found out about this I'd be in a whole mess of trouble. But that didn't really make me want to go back into the Hotel. After all, I was just as much to blame for the Creature to be walking around as anyone else. I didn't have to read the Book of the Dead…and seriously, I have no idea what had compelled me to do so anyway. It was like I'd been drawn into some kind of trance. Okay, we're getting into some freaky territory right now with that ever loving line of thought.

Carefully glancing around, I made sure no one saw as I dashed off into the streets of the Fort. Of course at some point in time I couldn't help but feel that someone was watching me. I doubt that the Mummy had found me…but still, I didn't like this feeling at all. Gave me the damn creeps. Good thing I was armed though.

I continued running, not once looking behind me till I realized that I didn't know where in the hell to go. Oh, right! The museum! Of course! There had to be some answers there…of course before I could move any farther someone had very sharply grabbed my arm. I was about to beat the snot out of them before I realized that it seemed dear old Rick had found me.

Oh, shit.

"What are you doing here?" he growled.

Gulp! "I wanted to help."

Rick's eyes narrowed, "Nikki, the biggest help would be for you to get back to the Hotel. The last thing I need is to find out that my sister got herself killed."

I blinked. _Interesting._

"What? Are you saying that I'm stupid enough to allow myself to get killed!"

Rick snorted, "NO, I'm not saying that! But I have no wish to find out that you were taken by that…Creature guy. I need to keep you and Evy away from that _thing_ and figure out a way to get rid of it."

Oh, sure, now he wants to get rid of it when early he didn't want anything to do with saving the world. I didn't say any of this of course. It really wouldn't've mattered in the first damn place. I wasn't going to win this round anyway.

I sighed. "Can't I at least go with you to get the archeologist guy? Or whoever he is. Please? I promise to listen." I CAN'T BELIEVE I'M DOING THIS!

I could practically see the wheels in my brother's head turning. He was confused that I would actually say that I'd listen to him when I never really have before…this goes to show just how desperate I was not to be caged up again. Hopefully the dope will know this and let me tag along. Wouldn't really matter if he said no, I'd do it anyway.

"Would it matter if I said no?" Smart boy.

I shook my head, grinning a little. "Nope."

He nodded, "All right, but you have to listen to me."

I nodded. "Okay, but remember, it's just this one time. Don't let the power go to your head." It probably would.

"Deal."

**XXXXXXXXXX**

**Yeah, I know it's short, but I really couldn't think of much for this chapter. I've got a lot on my mind right now so I'll do a better job on the next chapter. Promise! **


	14. IMPORTANT

Greetings to the Readers and Writers of this magnificent site  
I, along with many, have been writing and posting on your fine site for years now, some of the better examples of up and coming writers out there are are now suddenly finding some of the stories we've come to love at risk of being removed without the chance to even rectify our errors.  
For some, that means the permanent loss of a story. While I don't have anything that (I believe) violates your terms of use, there are those out there that are never able to recover a story in it's original form, this is something I find to be almost worthy of a legal action, as while we cannot claim ownership of a character, the stories are OURS and simply destroying them is something that is inexcusable.  
It's quite easy to simply add an MA rating, additional filters or even a simple requirement for a free membership to read the stories presented here, and would cut down on hateful anonymous reviews and posts at the same time, so I have to question as to why such a thing, in all this time, simply wasn't added.  
If you're worried about falsification of a registration then have an appropriate disclaimer and then there can be no dispute, you took your steps and the PARENTS didn't monitor their children, if that is even your concern. If it is more of a personal view or desire then please at least let people know and give them a chance to remove a story that you and yours find offensive, most people on the site are actually rather cordial when it comes to such requests.  
While I cannot say for sure if this letter will even reach those that may be willing to listen, of if it's more akin to a wide spectrum purge in preparation for something bigger, please understand that you are going to be looseing a LARGE number of your writers, and thus your income from a lack of readers if there is not some level of action taken to help with this situation.  
For those that may agree with this, please fell free to sign on and send this to the support server, maybe we can get some movement on this. And I believe that it will help more if you write your username and post this to others to make this a larger petition and save our stories.

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Sarah Victoria Cullen


	15. Trouble and more trouble

I have to say running into Beni was the _last_ thing I fully expected when we managed to find the place where that archeologist was supposed to be staying at. Of course, seeing Rick tackle the fool and toss him around the room like he was a doll really made my day a whole lot better! I just stood there off to the sidelines with a big ass grin on my face. I also had to hide my laughter once I saw my brother toss me a rather pointed look. Yeah, before we got here Rick forced me to promise not to say one damn word until we got what we needed. Nice. Guess he thought I'd run my big mouth and piss the Archeologist off. And he'd be right. I didn't like that guy one damn bit. AND STILL DON'T!

Of course finding out what that Creature was up to really didn't help my frazzled nerves; especially when Beni pointed out that the Creature was after me as well. Nice, like I didn't already know that one! The thing tried to kiss me if I remember correctly. Pisses me off even more that some undead thing wanted me…yeah, nice little shudder input there.

My eyes narrowed. "And just what the hell does he want with me?"

Beni smirked. "I don't know…all I know is that he wants you and that man's sister," he said looking at Jonathan. I so wanted to beat the shit out of him.

"You're lying."

Rick held the fool up towards the blades of fans. "What else?" Rick snarled. Yeah, big brother doesn't like it when his little sister is being hunted…for lack of a better word.

"Something about bringing his dead girlfriend back to life…" Oh, nice! We're sacrifices, but now that I think of it…

"You only need one for that kind of thing, Beni," I stated sharply. "So why does he want two of us?"

"I do not know…I SWEAR!"

Just then a terrified scream rang out, causing Rick to loosen his grip and Beni to kick my brother in the knees, releasing him. The coward then fled, but that didn't bother me. No what did get me was that chill that ran down my spine which increased once we looked outside of the window to see the man we'd been looking for dead and the book of the Dead within the hands of the Creature. Great…something tells me that time for stopping this monster is beginning to run out. Lovely. How about finding some kind of powerful gun and blowing this thing to bits? That thought increased even more when he barfed up a bunch of flies. YUCK! And can we also say 'Ew!'

"Two down," Rick started, "Two more to go."

"Then he'll be coming after Evy," Jonathan stated.

My eyes narrowed. "And me." I hadn't realized how softly I said that. I sounded worried. WELL I AM!

Rick looked at me. "We won't let him get either of you, Nikki," he vowed. "I promise."

I don't know why, but that did little to reassure me. Of course, I smiled just to keep my brother from freaking out. I sure do a lot to make sure that he isn't worried about me. Of course, I know better. Whether I like it or not, he'll be worried about me until this whole mess is fixed. I couldn't stop feeling guilty about reading from the black book with Evy…but it wasn't totally my fault. For some unknown reason I felt compelled to also read the ancient text. I kept thinking about that as we made our way as quickly as possible back to the hotel. We needed to get Evy and also we needed to get back to that museum to find out if there was a way to kill that Creature before things became even more horrible than they already were. Not like it could get much worse. Then again, I didn't fully realize that my foot was about to meet my mouth.

That happened after we got back to the hotel to find one of the other two American's dead and the undead creature with his mouth on Evy's. I think I just about lost my lunch with that one. Thankfully I managed to get a hold of a cat before the Creature could get anywhere near the rest of us when proceeded to advance. Needless to say, he didn't like it. I laughed, no one else did. They didn't find the humor that I obviously had seen in the event.

"We need to find a way to stop him," Evy stated once we got back to the museum to meet the curator and Ardeth. I'm not sure why but when I thought of that name I flushed hotly. Yeah, I don't like that at all! Moving on. "If the Book of the Dead brought him back to life…"

"Then maybe the Gold Book can kill him," Rick finished.

I grinned. "You're learning, big brother."

Rick shot me a glare. "Nikki…now is not the time." As we glanced out one of the big windows to see that the people of the town had somehow become mindless slaves to Imhotep. Great like zombies. Lovely thought.

"To what? Point out the obvious?" I snarked. Yeah, I'm still pissed off at him. Sure he let me come along, but that still doesn't mean I've let him completely off the hook. I'm not that nice. I looked over as Evy began reading the stone tablet that would tell us where the Gold Book was hidden. However at this time those slaves were bursting in through the front door.

"Come on Evy, faster," Jon pushed.

"Patience is a virtue," she sang.

"Not right now it isn't," Rick replied with an uneasy look on his face.

I smirked. "No, I say it is needed now more than ever." I blinked a few times as a weird vision suddenly came to me just as Evy declared that she knew where the book was hidden. Somehow before she even completed the sentence I too knew where it lay.

"Horus," I whispered, catching the curator's attention as well as Ardeth's. I shook my head to clear it. "Now is not the time for visions," I hissed as I took aim at the slaves coming through. Some part of me hurt at the knowledge that I'd have to harm them, but then again, I doubt Imhotep would allow them to live past their usefulness. Better to end their lives now…I still don't like it.

The fighting continued on as Jonathan quickly fled to get the car started. The rest of us were shooting, trying to get out of the place. The one American that managed to stay alive got wounded in the arm. I figured that was as good as a time as any to get the hell out of Dodge. We all ran like bats out of hell to get to the car as Jonathan drove up the entrance. However, Beni the little weasel called out for Imhotep. Rick wasn't pleased with that.

"I swear Beni," I snarled as I looked back, "I'll get you back!"

"You're going to get yours Beni," Rick yelled, "You hear me? You're going to get yours!" Obviously big brother is becoming a little more over protective.

The race through the city was interesting to say the least. Having a bunch of mindless people coming at us with the intent to stop us from leaving was interesting…and irritating as well. I didn't shoot, just punched a few times and almost got taken out of the car as the American grabbed hold of me as several people went to pull him out. Rick got me just in time before the idiot could pull me out with him. I did feel bad that I couldn't stop the man from toppling out, but there was nothing I could do. Somehow I knew this creature would get his way…and I didn't like the idea of that any better. My thoughts came back to the present when the car crashed and we all got out of it. I stayed close to Rick and Ardeth when we became cornered. Evy was between us as well, clinging onto my brother. I didn't cling to either. I wanted to, but I refused to do so.

"The Creature," the curator began, "he's fully regenerated."

I snorted. "No kidding," I hissed softly, "Thanks for the heads up."

"Nikki," Evy whispered. "Not now."

I stayed silent. Even after Beni messed translating what Imhotep had said.

"Come with me and I will spare your friends," he said holding a hand out to Evy, who just stared with uncertainty.

Rick smirked, "No, I don't think."

I blinked. "There really isn't a choice in this…"

Evy nodded, "She's right, O'Connell, I don't have a choice," she said, moving forward, I grabbed hold of Rick to keep him in place. Surprisingly I was able to.

"You can't Rick," I snarled when he went to pull his gun.

Evy nodded. "He still has to take me to Hamunaptra to perform the ritual."

Of course, when Imhotep didn't move to leave right away we were all curious…that is until he held out his other hand towards me, saying something that I somehow managed to understand fully.

"You will come as well," Beni translated. "Priestess."

I blinked. "Uh…" Now what was I supposed to say to that?

Rick shook, forcing me to let go of him before hugging me. "No…"

I looked at my brother. I knew that if I didn't go as well things would not end well. Of course, I knew that Imhotep wouldn't allow the others to live anyway, but I knew that they would escape. Instinct was the best thing I had going for me right now. "I have to go with him too Rick…"

Everyone on our side looked at me. Of course I had to fight the flush when I noticed the intensity of the look Ardeth was giving me. Honestly, I didn't even know the man so why he looked at me like that I'll never know! However, I'd save that for later.

"I can't lose you too, Nikki," Rick breathed, tightening his grip.

"You won't," I stated, managed to pull out of Rick's grip and take hold of Imhotep's other hand. This time Ardeth had to hold my brother back when he made to move to get me and Evy away. The two of us looked back at our brother and the others as we were led away. We struggled when the order to kill the others sounded. I wanted to kick myself right in the ass for being right!

I glanced back with tears in my eyes. If Rick knew that I was about to cry he'd be enraged. "Be safe," I whispered as they disappeared from sight.

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

***runs from angry reviewers* I UPDATED SO PLEASE CALL THESE HOUNDS OFF OF ME! I KNOW IT'S BEEN A LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONG TIME SINCE I LAST PUT UP A CHAPTER FOR THIS STORY. I also know that it might not make much sense or that Nikki isn't like how she was for the other chapters. I blame playing Resident Evil 4 for that one! As I've been in an RE state of mind for the last few months or so. I'm not entirely happy with this chapter, but it will have to do for now. I'll be closing the story here real soon so don't worry about that. Originally I wasn't going to let Nikki be taken away too, but I thought 'to hell with it!' So that's how this chapter ended the way it did. If I feel so inclined I may do the next chapter from Rick's POV. But I might not. I'll let ya all know. So please, review kindly…*dodges skillet* AND STOP THROWING THINGS AT ME!**


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